


First Encounter

by J_E_McCormick



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, I am bad at titling things, I am so sorry for the title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-11
Updated: 2013-12-11
Packaged: 2018-01-04 09:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1079325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_E_McCormick/pseuds/J_E_McCormick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Can you... see me?” he asks shakily, his ice blue eyes peering disbelievingly at the little man. When he nods, Jack’s face breaks out into a huge grin, and with a whoop he does a backwards flip in the air and darts forwards again. He hesitates for a moment, before stretching out a hand. It comes into contact with the golden man’s shoulder, and when he gives a gentle push his hand doesn’t go through; it resists, and he can faintly feel the texture of the grains that make him up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love the idea of Jack and Sandman being pretty good friends even wayyy before the whole Pitch ordeal. My general headcanon is that Sandman is the first spirit/legend/Guardian Jack ever meets, and Sandman is plenty happy to keep him company when he can. Unfortunately Sandman doesn't pass personally over Burgess very often, and not always at a time when Jack is there, so they don't talk regularly or anything. And after a while Jack meets some of the harsher spirits, and starts getting hesitant about approaching other spirits and... yeah I'll shush now.

He’s high in the air, above his lake and the surrounding forest trying to master his control of the wind, when he sees them for the first time. Golden trails, streams, falling down to earth like sand in a clear tube, from somewhere in the sky. He calls for the wind to take him up, closer to the strange floating streams of glittering gold, and shakily, it does. He can see them twisting themselves around, feeding into the windows of the houses in the village. He lands softly on a rooftop, near one of the streams, and experimentally reaches out his hand to it. His fingertips disrupt the flow, and the shimmering particles explode around his hand, forming into moving shapes. On instinct he jumps back, but quickly regains his curiosity and bounces forwards again.

A bird of some sort flies around his head, swooping down and then lifting again in graceful movements. He watches it with wide blue eyes as it dives again and slowly feeds back into the steady stream. He blinks a few times and wonders if he could try to reach out to it again, but something tells him not to disrupt it a second time. Instead, he gets the wind to pick him up again, and follow the stream upwards.

The trail takes him high, and slightly away from the small town he is used to staying near. As he flies up he can see just how far the land stretches, and the curiosity that always sticks near him is once again piqued, but he dismisses it for the sand trail. Eventually he catches sight of a large cloud, made of the same particles as the streams, and he can see the stems of many, many other streams that flow downwards. He keeps going up, up, until he is level with the cloud, and what he sees surprises him.

On top of the sand cloud where the sand streams drop down from, there’s a small man, and he too seems to be made up of the golden sand. He’s frowning and looking curiously at the sand stream that Jack has just followed upwards, and then he catches sight of the floating boy in front of him and starts slightly.

Jack starts as well, flinching backwards before his eyes widen and he slowly moves forward.

“Can you... see me?” he asks shakily, his ice blue eyes peering disbelievingly at the little man. When he nods, Jack’s face breaks out into a huge grin, and with a whoop he does a backwards flip in the air and darts forwards again. He hesitates for a moment, before stretching out a hand. It comes into contact with the golden man’s shoulder, and when he gives a gentle push his hand doesn’t go through; it resists, and he can faintly feel the texture of the grains that make him up.

Slowly, the corner of Jack’s mouth twitches upwards, and quiet laughter bubbles up from his chest. Yet, at the same time, small tears gather at the corners of his eyes, and the little man looks at him sympathetically. The white haired boy throws himself forward, clinging on tightly to him, shaking slightly in joy and relief. It’s the first time he’s been able to physically touch anyone since he was born from the lake, and that seems like such a long time ago. The little man doesn’t move nor speak; simply lets Jack hug him tightly as if his whole existence depends on it.

After a few minutes, Jack lets go and leaps back off the cloud, laughing and grinning and letting the wind catch and carry him as he celebrates. He eventually settles back, his sideways grin stuck on his face, and starts talking inquisitively.

“So, who’re you then?”

The man gestures silently to the sand cloud below them, and then fashions a form out of it. Jack furrows his brows for a second, and peers closely at the figure, before his eyes widen.

“Oh! This is like a game, huh? I gotta guess... alright then... So, this stuff, sand?”

The man nods and then inclines his head and twirls his hands in a gesture of ‘ _go on_ ’. Jack pauses to think for a second before speaking hesitantly.

“And that’s... a man, so... Sand...man?”

Sandman smiles widely and nods his head vigorously, clapping his hands although no sound is made. Jack grins.

“Alright! Oh, I think I’ve heard of you before. The people down in the village mention you sometimes when they’re putting the kids to bed. You, uh, bring them sweet dreams or summin, right?”

Sandman nods again. Then, above his head, he forms a question mark, and points at Jack.

“Who am... I?” Jack pauses until Sandman makes a positive gesture. “I’m Jack Frost!”

Sandman looks at him for a moment, and the question mark appears again. Jack deflates slightly, running his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Never heard of me, huh? I don’t think I’ve been around very long... but the moon told me that was who I was. Other than that, I’ve got nothing.”

Sandman nods slowly, then makes a couple of gestures with another question mark. Jack frowns for a moment as he tries to translate, but eventually shakes his head.

“I don’t understand.”

Sandman huffs slightly and pauses to think, before gesturing again, to himself, and the sand trails he’s been sending off, and an image of a child sleeping in a bed with a smile on their face appears.

 _‘I bring sweet dreams to children._ ’

When Jack nods to show he’s understood, he makes a questioning motion with his hands towards the boy.

‘ _What do you do?_ ’

“What do _I_ do?” Jack repeats, and Sandman nods. Jack frowns and shrugs. “I don’t know... I can fly with the wind, and sometimes it snows hard when I’m upset. I can freeze things with my staff, too.”

 Sandman makes an ‘ _aha!_ ’ gesture and understanding nod, a snowflake drifting above his head. Jack tilts his head as he tries to translate, but Sandman shakes his head and hands to tell him not to bother. He waves away the image above his head, making the golden sand trickle down into his hair, before smiling kindly at Jack and making another signal with his hands.

‘ _You can keep talking_.’

Jack grins happily and gladly chatters away about anything and everything he can think of, asking questions, sharing stories, letting his words run on and on. He’s upset when the sun starts to rise over the horizon and Sandman signals that he has to go.

He watches sadly as the first person he ever got to talk to slowly drifts away on a cloud of golden dreamsand.

**Author's Note:**

> If you feel like giving feedback that would be much appreciated.


End file.
